Aircraft generate a substantial amount of telemetry data during their normal operation. With appropriate physical connections and data-reading modules, the telemetry data can be accessed by other systems on the aircraft. Most traditional avionics systems provide a small number of related functions and each avionics system connects directly to the data sources that are required for its proper operation. As distinct from modern data networks, where all systems connected to a network are—at least in principle—able to share information with all other systems on a network, airplane systems are each only connected to a small number of other systems according to their unique data needs. Historically, the time and costs involved in acquiring additional data from systems installed on an aircraft is substantial, due to the level of regulatory oversight and physical-installation engineering. This common architecture severely restricts the ability of a system or application to acquire a different set of data as the systems installed on an aircraft evolve.
In contrast to traditional avionics, it is becoming increasingly more common to install systems onboard the aircraft that provide a generalized data-processing function. These data processing systems connect to a wide variety of data sources, including data sources that may not be necessary for whatever data processing logic is currently executing on the aircraft. As the airline's data processing needs evolve, the airline may add or change the data processing logic, in many cases without making additional physical connections to onboard systems. The results of such processing of aircraft data can be used onboard or offboard for various purposes, including, without restriction, streamlining maintenance activities, decreasing fuel consumption, or driving new efficiencies within fleet operations. Such benefits are broad and described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,203,630.
Within an operator's fleet of aircraft, it is common for different aircraft to be equipped with different avionics systems. Variations in equipment make and model create variations in the data that is available for acquisition and processing on each aircraft. Such variations can include—without restriction—changes to data identifiers, refresh intervals, units, and precision. As a result, it is common for data processing logic to be written that is only applicable to small groups of identically equipped aircraft. For airlines with strongly heterogeneous fleets of many different types of aircraft, it is cumbersome to apply similar data processing logic across their entire fleet because the logic must be re-implemented for the specific data characteristics of each distinct aircraft or sub-fleet that includes a specific make and model of avionics system. As a result, data processing logic is changed infrequently and at substantial cost to the airlines.
Furthermore, for most airlines, the creation of new data processing instructions typically requires the technical assistance of the data-processing system vendor, and, once the new instructions are created, adding the instructions to the onboard data processing system requires ground personnel to manually transfer the new software instructions to the aircraft using a specialized data loading system (typically called a “data loader”). Systems are also available that use wireless data exchange to eliminate the manual transfer of updated instructions to the aircraft. The wireless data loading systems can update one or more target systems with new data processing instructions without ground personnel physically accessing the aircraft. In both of these cases, data processing instructions are updated only when the aircraft is on the ground and parked. This process is inefficient because it requires assistance from the system vendor and because it requires that the aircraft be parked on the ground before the system is updated.
Thus, although there are many generalized computing devices that can acquire data from various aircraft sources (including commercial and military standards), new technology is needed that: (a) provides a layer of data abstraction such that an operator can define data processing logic, which runs identically across aircraft with different makes and models of avionics equipment; (b) enables airline operators to competently develop data processing logic without vendor oversight; and, (c) allows airline operators to update the data processing rules on aircraft without waiting for the aircraft to be parked.